Steve: "Our Own Remain Our Lifeblood"

25 April 2014

Boss on the decision to offer six scholars their first professional deals

Steve Davis is pleased that the club have followed tradition and offered six of their Youth Team a professional contract. The Football Club have offered professional deals to Callum Saunders, Fraser Murdock, Callum Pritchard-Ellis, Perry Ng, James Jones and James Ballie and are hopeful that all the promising teenagers will emerge as future first team players.

They follow the news that winger George Cooper has been offered a similar deal after coming through the Academy ranks at the club.

Steve told the club’s official web-site: “We are delighted that we have had six scholars emerge from a strong group. The Under-18s have also had a successful season and reached the play-offs. That is a great achievement because it means they have finished in the top two of their league and there is some strong competition in that.

“They are still very young and will need time to develop before they break through to the first team but they will train with us from next year so we can continue to assess them.

“It is becoming harder to recruit players, especially older, more experienced players because of their wage demands, so producing our own young players is the way we will continue to go.

“The young players here know that they will get an opportunity. They will probably come into the first team squad when they are ready and they can see the light here. They know we give them a chance in professional football.

“I will continue to play our own young players, like Dario did before, because they are our future and if we can get three or four coming through together then it can take us to a higher level like it did with Murph, Westy and Nick Powell.”